The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

Browse Items (138 total)

  • https://filsonhistoricalomekaimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2022_16_2_1.jpg

    Cream colored cloth banner with appliqued blue letters reading "Tall Trees JCC." Images of a male figure, a star of David with a tree inside of it, and a female figure--all made of blue cloth--are also appliqued on the front of the banner. The Louisville Young Men's Hebrew Association and its successor the Jewish Community Center held 2-3 week overnight summer camps at Camp Tall Trees in Meade County, Kentucky, about 35 miles from Louisville. In 1966, a section of Otter Creek Park was renovated and opened as Camp Ben F. Washer, the successor to Camp Tall Trees.


  • https://filsonhistoricalomekaimages.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2022_16_1_2.jpg

    Cream colored felt pennant with blue trim and strips of felt on the left side, a tall tree in blue, and the text "Camp Tall Trees" in blue. On the back is an ink stamp in green with the text "The Felt Crafters / Emblematic Sportswear for Club-Camp-Campus / Factories - Plaistow, N.H. / Made in U.S.A." The Louisville Young Men's Hebrew Association and its successor the Jewish Community Center held 2-3 week overnight summer camps at Camp Tall Trees in Meade County, Kentucky, about 35 miles from Louisville. In 1966, a section of Otter Creek Park was renovated and opened as Camp Ben F. Washer, the successor to Camp Tall Trees.


  • CabbagePatch_Chin_Male.jpg

    A pennant from Male High School, a public school in Louisville, Kentucky. This pennant was owned by Roosevelt Chin, a Chinese American from Louisville, Kentucky who worked with the Cabbage Patch Settlement House for over fifty years. The pennant is made of felt. It is purple with gold lettering and a gold strip across the leftmost side. Roosevelt Chin graduated from Male High School in 1951. Chin would later say that while he attended art school in New York, he would always return home for the annual Male-Manual rivalry football game.
  • 1988_28_1_a.jpg

    Coin silver teaspoon engraved "Lemon" on the front side of the handle. The bowl is egg-shaped and has a flat edge. The handle has rounded flanges near the bowl and ends in a fiddle style pattern. Marked on reverse: Jas. I. Lemon.
  • 1985_25_2_a.jpg

    Child's fork with convex curved handle. The handle is decorated with a raised outline, repousse leaves, and a monogram. The back of the handle has more vegetative repousse designs with 4 square marks of "J S & Co." and "Jas. I. Lemon & Co" (retailer).
  • The-Wedding.jpeg

    For nearly five decades, abstract painter Gloucester Caliman “G.C.” Coxe (1907-1999) was a fixture of the Louisville art scene. The first Black artist to receive a fine arts degree from the University of Louisville, Coxe worked and exhibited with a milieu of artists including Sam Gilliam and Fred Bond. He co-founded the Louisville Art Workshop, where he worked alongside Gilliam, Bond, Robert Douglas, and Ed Hamilton, and was a mentor to generations of Louisville artists.
  • IMG_6152.JPEG

    Mixed media model of a Tudor Revival home decorated for Christmas. The model was displayed in the Olde England on the Ohio exhibit at the Filson Historical Society in 2022-2023.
  • 1936_1_1_1 copy.jpg

    Quilt belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. The quilt has strips of hand-woven cloth believed to have been made locally in Jefferson County, Kentucky, alternating with a commercial indigo print that was imported into the United States. The quilt, the oldest quilt in the Filson's collection, is more than 100 inches long on each side and was completely hand-stitched. Eliza married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died seven years into their marriage in 1822. Eliza then took on the responsibility of managing their farm in addition to rearing her three young sons. Eliza enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor for the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Eliza manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother.
  • 1964_5.JPG

    Hank of wool from Buchanan, Kentucky. Sheep were among the early domesticated animals brought to Kentucky. Home production of wool increased during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 due to trade embargos. Free and enslaved women prepared and spun the wool into a usable yarn. They used the yarn for knitting, or it was taken to a professional weaver (free or enslaved person) who turned it into cloth. Wool was often woven with cotton or hemp in early Kentucky textiles. Approximately 4/12 lbs. of spun wool were needed to make a single blanket. Wool cloth was also sewn into clothing by women.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1978_12_1.jpg

    Early silk empire style wedding dress. Empire dresses emerged in the early 19th century and rapidly became fashionable across Europe, particularly England.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1977_7_3.jpg

    Early style teaspoon with egg-shaped bowl and slender handle widening to a modified coffin style. Undecipherable monogram on end of handle. "SA" stamped in rectangular cartouche. Also a winged eagle, looking left.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1926_2.jpg

    Silk dresses of the early 19th century embodies the period between the whiteness of dresses of the early Regency gowns and the decorative frills and flounces of the 1810s. This dress belonged to a woman of the McNair -Anderson family.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1992_13_1b.jpg

    This cotton dress is a great example of the changes (simplified, 'natural' dresses) occurring in women's fashion in the late 18th century to early 19th century. 'Naturalness' in this context refers to the use of lightweight , easily washable materials (like muslin, cotton, linen, poplin, and batiste) for dresses.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1987_x_4.jpg

    Empire dresses emerged in the early 19th century and rapidly became fashionable across Europe (particularly England).
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1949_1.jpg

    This shawl is said to have belonged to Ann Rogers Clark Gwathmey (1755-1822). See also 1943.5.1 (miniature portrait). Paisley Shawls were a luxury item worn by affluent women. Paisley, as a style, didn't get its name until the 1830s-40s, named after the Scottish town that began to reproduce designs copied from textiles that were originally imported from India. The pin and cone design motifs had their origins from Indo-Iranian people in Persia. Luxurious textiles from India were in high demand among the upper class and often can be seen in portraits of affluent women. By the mid 18th century, England's East India Company was importing shawls to London. In the early 1800s, Scottish mills began producing their own version of the highly sought after shawls, which made them more accessible to the rising middle class.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1947_2_26.jpg

    Samplers were a staple in the education of girls, designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties. Samples could be symbolic of the girl's culture, religion, social class, or personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility. This was made by Abigail Prather Churchill the daughter of Abigail Pope Oldham Churchill (1789-1854), around age 11-13 at Nazareth Academy (which is near Bardstown, KY).
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/2021_21.jpg

    This sampler was made by Mary Ann Logan in Shakertown, Kentucky. Samplers were a staple in the education of girls. The samplers were designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties and could be a symbol of the girl's culture, religion, social class, and personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1987_27.jpg

    This darning sampler is a great example of the various embroidery techniques that young girls were expected to learn and be proficient in. Samplers were a staple in the education of girls. The samplers were designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties and could be a symbol of the girl's culture, religion, social class, and personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1935_4_overton.jpg

    According to family narrative, this bed sheet was made by an enslaved weaver using flax that was grown on Dabney Carr Overton's farm in Fayette County, Kentucky. In 1830, Overton enslaved thirty-two persons, including twenty female children and adults. Enslaved women were skilled spinners, weavers, and seamstresses, whose skills provided comfort for the families that enslaved them.
  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1913_1_27-copy.jpg

    An 'M's & O's' patterned sheet made of linen and cotton. The family narratives for this linen sheet states that it was made in 1816 by Betsy Breckinridge Meredith, sister of John Breckinridge. Family narrative also states the flax was grown, spun, and woven by enslaved people on the Winton Plantation. Enslaved women and men were skilled spinners, weavers, and seamstress on the frontier. Their skilled labor made life easier and more comfortable for their enslavers.
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